Another 90 wild bison released at Fort Peck

A bison calf races for open pasture on Thursday morning during the release of 90 Yellowstone bison into a 13,000 acre bison pasture on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, 20 miles northwest of Poplar.(Photo11: TRIBUNE PHOTO/RION SANDERS)Buy Photo

More Yellowstone National Park bison were released Thursday on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, where bison are back on the prairie after more than a century's absence.

The 90 animals that rumbled off of two cattle-hauling trucks will augment 48 bison that were previously reintroduced in 2012.

"I'm glad they're here — they're finally here," said Pearl Nation, 86, standing at the end of the chute used by the huge grazers to charge from the trucks into the pasture.

Nation and more than a dozen tribal elders boarded a bus so they could witness the reintroduction of the animals, which are originally from Yellowstone National Park. The bison were trucked 430 miles from a ranch west of Bozeman to the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in northeastern Montana.

The drum group of Buffalo Nation, called Tatanka Oyate in Sioux, played a buffalo honor song as the bison ran onto the prairie.

The bison, which have no cattle genes, arrived at about 10 a.m., when it was about 10 below zero and snow covered the prairie.

A.T. Stafne, Fort Peck tribal chairman, said he was sure the "great father" was pleased with the return of the bison.

"It's great to see them come back here," Stafne said.

Originally, 139 bison were to be released into a 13,000-acre pasture, but one of the trucks broke down at the ranch and couldn't make the trip, so 90 bison were relocated, including 11 bulls, some weighing 2,200 pounds and standing 6 feet, 3 inches including the hump, said Robert Magnan, director of the Fort Peck Fish and Game Department.

Returning bison to the landscape will help restore the culture and spirituality of the tribes, Magnan said.

A bison calf races for open pasture on Thursday morning during the release of 90 Yellowstone bison into a 13,000 acre bison pasture on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, 20 miles northwest of Poplar. TRIBUNE PHOTO/RION SANDERS

Isanti Nation and his grandmother Pearl Nation peer into the livestock trailer to catch a glimpse of more bison during the unloading process on Thursday morning at the Fort Peck Indian Reservation's bison pasture, 20 miles northwest of Poplar. TRIBUNE PHOTO/RION SANDERS

A bison bull charges out of the livestock trailer on Thursday morning during the release of 90 Yellowstone bison into a 13,000 acre bison pasture on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, 20 miles northwest of Poplar. TRIBUNE PHOTO/RION SANDERS

86-year-old Pearl Nation tries to get a better look at some of the 90 Yellowstone bison as they are unloaded into the Fort Peck Indian Reservation's 13,000 acre bison pasture on Thursday morning, 20 miles northwest of Poplar. TRIBUNE PHOTO/RION SANDERS

Once the conservation herd gets large enough, the tribes plan to donate animals to other organizations and tribes interested in having bison, Magnan said. Officials with the Shoshoni Tribe from Wind River, Wyoming were on hand to witness the release. They also are interested in establishing a herd.

The remaining 49 bison were expected to be released Friday.

One big bull had to be shot at the ranch, before the trip north, because it was so nasty, Magnan said. It killed two other bulls. The meat of the bull that was put down was saved, and a Dakota Sioux spiritual leader led an honor song to recognize its life and contribution to the tribes.

Men poked the bison with cattle prods through holes in the cattle trailers to prompt them to run out the back. Once free, some ran back and forth, snorting, their shaggy bangs bouncing, before they took off running down a long runway.

"Fort Peck tribes are taking the lead in restoring these important species to the Great Plains and we all owe them a debt of gratitude for it," said Jonathan Proctor, Rockies and Plains program director for Defenders of Wildlife.

The Fort Peck herd is the only conservation herd of Yellowstone bison on the Great Plains, he said.

Fort Peck is home to Assiniboine and Sioux tribes.

Defenders paid for the costs of transporting the bison to the reservation, and the group has promoted the restoration of wild bison to their historic range on the prairie.

"We share the vision of bison restoration on a large scale," Proctor said. "You have to start somewhere."

The Fort Peck herd, which is now 187, could reach 300 in a few years. A herd of about 1,000 is needed for the animals to begin restoring the landscape with their grazing and wallowing, according to scientists, Proctor said. Even birds use their hair to line nests, he said.

The bison were part of a quarantine feasibility study conducted by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service at a facility near Corwin Springs north of Yellowstone National Park.

The work was aimed at finding a feasible method to produce wild bison free of brucellosis, a disease that can cause some pregnant bison, elk and domestic cattle to abort their first calf. Bison in the program have been repeatedly tested over the course of their quarantine and are brucellosis-free, according to the FWP.

The 90 bison relocated today joined Fort Peck's existing cultural herd of 48, Magnan said. They will be kept temporarily in a 160-acre pasture with an 8-foot-tall fence to allow them to adjust to their new surroundings before being set free in a 13,000-acre pasture.

Following the release, the 90 bison formed a single-file line and walked and trotted around the perimeter of the fence.

"They're exploring their new territory immediately," Proctor said.

Kenneth Ryan, a tribal historian and Assiniboine language teacher, said it had been 141 years since there's been wild bison roaming northeastern Montana. The animals were once used for food, blankets, to make homes, robes and more.

"The buffalo were wiped out," said Ryan, whose name is Tashunga Saba, or Black Horse, in Assiniboine. "They were wiped out because people wanted the land of Montana."

He said he's overjoyed buffalo are back. A lot of people have been praying for their return for a long time, he said.

"This is as Montana as you can get," said Ryan, gesturing to the wide-open plains and the bison, which are as much a part of the state as Glacier National Park or the Chinese Wall in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, he noted.

He called their return to Fort Peck a religiously significant event for the tribes.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks approved the transfer of the bison.

Tom Flowers, FWP's Region 6 supervisor, was on hand to observe the release.

"It seems to be going well, and we're glad they have a home," he said.